When It Comes to Healthy Eating, Do Your Homework and Ignore All of the Hype

As a dietitian I am amazed at how much nutrition information is out there and unfortunately it’s not all good. In fact, it really is quite overwhelming and very misleading.

Just picking a multivitamin is no longer only a question of your demographics: men, women, or over 50? These days, multivitamins can be chosen based on what body part you want to protect: your heart, prostate, breasts, bones or maybe to increase your brain functioning.

Today the market is flooded with nutrition advice and claims. I like to call it the “claim game” and the key of the game is for you find out what is fact and what is claim – and believe me there are many claims. So how do you decipher the facts versus the claims?

The key is to be informed. Speak with your doctor and ask for a referral to visit a registered dietitian. Often, insurance companies will cover this. Each day I meet with patients who are looking for a quick fix or a supplement to help with this and that. I tell them to save their money, encourage them to exercise and we work out a plan to eat healthy based on their lifestyle and medical needs.

Unfortunately, there is no miracle drug (although drug companies are hard at work with this one). The bottom line is this: good health means maintaining a healthy weight for you, which involves eating right and exercising. In fact, in a recent survey of 400 doctors, 94 percent of them believe that nutrition plays a role in preventing, treating and managing chronic diseases such as diabetes.

So just think: you might be able to get off some of that medication if only you changed your eating habits. Take it from me, I see first hand that it really does work.

As for deciphering facts versus claims, you need to look at the research and data that supports it. One study isn’t enough, there needs to be continuously supporting studies and the larger the sample size the better. Also we need to look at how the study is being conducted and who is conducting it. Is it the company itself? Well, how convenient it is that we got good results.

To sum it up, the industry wants one thing – to make a profit and they do this by marketing their products to you. So be educated and do your homework. Use government or accredited Web sites and ask for a referral to a registered dietitian who can save you time and money while helping make you healthier!

Not a bad deal.

--Beth St.Louis, MS, RD, LDN
Program Dietitian
Martin Memorial Center for Health and Healing